Tonight I got to go do my official in hospital training with
Musicians On Call. My sweet friend and trainer Dana, allowed me to get a peek into the
magical world of the healing power of music.
Once I arrived at Vanderbilt University Hospital I met the
two musicians who are brothers. One had a guitar and the other a snare drum
(don’t worry he had a towel over it to cut down on the volume). Dana arrived
and we headed to the cardiac unit. I, for some reason, thought this wouldn't really affect me, but it did. I don’t know if I will ever get over the initial
flash back and gut wrenching feeling I get as I walk into a hospital. The
sights and sounds make my legs go numb and knock the breath out of me.
Everywhere I look I see my Daddy. I see him in every person in those beds. My
heart breaks, especially for the people who are alone. We walk in the first
room and I try to shake the memories clouding my mind from the task at hand.
The first man is alone; he has a long fresh scar down the center of his chest.
The musicians walk in and start to sing “Washed by the Water” by Needtobreathe.
I try to hide my watering eyes. I adore that song, the words are so powerful. “Even when the rain falls, even when the flood
starts rising, even when the storm comes I am washed by the water.” No matter
what happens to us, good, bad, or ugly we are still washed by the water.
Nothing can ever take that away from us. That was such a good song to start with.
I got to have my little moment and after that I knew I could keep it together.
The blessings didn't stop there. We visited 30+ hospital rooms and I saw some smiles that are etched
onto my heart forever. We had nurses coming up to us saying certain rooms were
requesting us, (even though we were going to be going to all the rooms on the
floor it was awesome so many patients were excited). There was one room that we
were told by 4 different nurses that was very insistent that we stop by. Once we
got back around to this room I could feel the woman’s excitement. She was much
older and had probably had a very long day. She lit up so bright it was
completely contagious. I will never forget her smile. At one point during the
night we had a little crowd of patients following us around. It was so cool to
see how many of them were willing to follow the music and stand in the hallway
just to catch another song.
Its nights like
tonight that become seared in your mind, and hopefully stored away for times
you feel bad about yourself. Tonight put it in perspective for me. Things don’t
seem to be going exactly my way right now, but I am okay. I live in a world
where hope isn't lost, where music is medicine and where love is a beautiful
part of who we are. It is easy to get caught up in me, me, me (trust me I am an
only child), but that is not who God created us to be. We were created in love,
to go and love.
1 Corinthians 16:14 Let all that you do be done in love.
xoxo
xoxo
